Tag Archives: joe wallace

StudioLab has its roots in sound-one of the earliest versions of the art space itself was rooted in recording and sound installations.

StudioLab returns to its sound-based roots with a series of sound art projects that include appropriation of old vinyl records, found sound, field recording, and other manipulation of audio.

The first of these projects is in progress, and we’ll provide samples soon…as well as an artist statement for this series and some other musings.

The StudioLab philosophy with sound art includes the idea that sound artists have an added challenge when it comes to their work-sound is all around us every day, and it can be difficult to create art that feels different and new, removed from the soundscapes that surround us all day, every day.

One notion being studied and investigated in this work includes the following idea: as a painter I have enjoyed the luxury of making work that is easier to show as a unique object. People don’t encounter paintings all day, every day. Is it harder to entice an audience using raw materials that we experience from the moment we wake to the moment we fall asleep?

You’re looking at the new, much larger StudioLab, which is in the process of moving from the Bridgeport Arts Center to the Flatiron Arts Building in Chicago’s Wicker Park neighborhood.

StudioLab set up shop in Bridgeport in February 2014 and did many shows there, including Scary And Sexy Vinyl, Meow Mix, Adult Landscapes, and Jessica Barnett DeCuir’s Remix record cover collage art show. We did several performances in the space including Paisley Babylon, Binary Partners, and a reading/live recording of Things I Wrote While Drinking.

But it was time to move on when it became known that there was a space in the Flatiron Building available–StudioLab nearly set up shop there in February, but due to circumstances at the time it wasn’t possible.

Now the transition is on and things are getting ramped up for our occupancy of the new, larger space. Stay tuned for information about upcoming shows and events.

StudioLab is actively seeking artists who work with vinyl records in any capacity for collaborative shows, solo work, etc. Read below for details.

The photo above was taken at Remix, our most recent art show which wraps up June 12, 2015. Remix is a solo show by Jessica Barnett DeCuir, and when we first decided to work together it was the start of a whole new set of possibilities for StudioLab.

Originally when I opened StudioLab in early 2014, it was intended to be much more of a work-oriented space between myself and my bandmate in Binary Partners, Ezzy Trujillo plus some collaboration with Patty Gonzales. But their work took them in other directions and I found myself using StudioLab for a variety of things aside from showcasing my own work.

So I began doing collaborative shows in the space as well as solo shows as you can see from above.

Now I am opening StudioLab up to other artists that seem to fit into the overall aesthetic I’m working in–StudioLab is, as of now, actively seeking proposals for shows to run in the space that would have their openings during the Flatiron Building First Friday open studios event in Wicker Park and run for two weeks with gallery hours by appointment and/or as the artist has time to be available with or without an appointment.

You can send a digital proposal to StudioLab via email: jwallace242@gmail.com. Please do not send attachments–instead please send a text proposal along with links to images hosted online, via YouTube, your official site, etc. You can also send proposals via regular mail to:

Joe Wallace/StudioLab, 1579 N. Milwaukee #220, Chicago Illinois 60622

At this time I am accepting all proposals for review, but I am especially interested in any artist working with vinyl records–if you are inspired by Christian Marclay, or are interesting in using vinyl as part of your work, please do get in touch with a proposal as that’s something StudioLab is planning more of in the coming months.

In between curating Jessica Barnett DeCuir’s record cover collage art show Remix, and getting ready for a new third Friday event for June, I’ve been working on a series of video collage pieces titled Retro Oddities.

This is a collection of images from men’s magazines that have been re-photographed and recontextualized. The original images have been manipulated by selective photography, cropping and juxtaposition of several printed pieces within the frame of the photograph.

The results are something that looks far more like crime scene photography than what was originally intended; the men’s magazines I selected for this project are from the late 1960s and early 70s and were sold as adults-only print matter.

Special emphasis was placed on finding images that showed models who appear to be grimacing rather than smiling, straining, rather than enjoying, enduring as opposed to reclining. Other images were selected for their relevance to the central theme of the project, which includes the notion that creepy men’s magazines of decades gone by reveal far more about the people who create this material than the people who read it.